VIM keyboard shortcuts

List of shortcut keys

Shortcut	Command	How useful(?)
Cursor movement                                                                                                                                         VIM
h	move left	+       –
j	move down	+       –
k	move up	+       –
l	move right	+       –
w	jump by start of words (punctuation considered words)	+       –
W	jump by words (spaces separate words)	+       –
e	jump to end of words (punctuation considered words)	+       –
E	jump to end of words (no punctuation)	+       –
b	jump backward by words (punctuation considered words)	+       –
B	jump backward by words (no punctuation)	+       –
0	(zero) start of line	+       –
^	first non-blank character of line	+       –
$	end of line	+       –
G	Go To command (prefix with number	+       –
Note:	Prefix a cursor movement command with a number to repeat it. For example, 4j moves down 4 lines.	+       –
Insert Mode	Inserting/Appending text	+       –
i	start insert mode at cursor	+       –
I	insert at the beginning of the line	+       –
a	append after the cursor	+       –
A	append at the end of the line	+       –
o	open (append) blank line below current line (no need to press return)	+       –
O	open blank line above current line	+       –
ea	append at end of word	+       –
Esc	exit insert mode	+       –

Editing VIM
r	replace a single character (does not use insert mode)	+       –
J	join line below to the current one	+       –
cc	change (replace) an entire line	+       –
cw	change (replace) to the end of word	+       –
c$	change (replace) to the end of line	+       –
s	delete character at cursor and subsitute text	+       –
S	delete line at cursor and substitute text (same as cc)	+       –
xp	transpose two letters (delete and paste, technically)	+       –
u	undo	+       –
.	repeat last command	+       –

Marking text (visual mode) VIM
v	start visual mode, mark lines, then do command (such as y-yank)	+       –
V	start Linewise visual mode	+       –
o	move to other end of marked area	+       –
Ctrl+v	start visual block mode	+       –
O	move to Other corner of block	+       –
aw	mark a word	+       –
ab	a () block (with braces)	+       –
aB	a {} block (with brackets)	+       –
ib	inner () block	+       –
iB	inner {} block	+       –
Esc	exit visual mode	+       –

Visual commands VIM
>	shift right	+       –
<	shift left	+       –
y	yank (copy) marked text	+       –
d	delete marked text	+       –
~	switch case	+       –

Cut and Paste VIM
yy	yank (copy) a line	+       –
2yy	yank 2 lines	+       –
yw	yank word	+       –
y$	yank to end of line	+       –
p	put (paste) the clipboard after cursor	+       –
P	put (paste) before cursor	+       –
dd	delete (cut) a line	+       –
dw	delete (cut) the current word	+       –
x	delete (cut) current character	+       –

Exiting VIM
:w	write (save) the file, but don't exit	+       –
:wq	write (save) and quit	+       –
:q	quit (fails if anything has changed)	+       –
:q!	quit and throw away changes	+       –

Search/Replace VIM
/pattern	search for pattern	+       –
?pattern	search backward for pattern	+       –
n	repeat search in same direction	+       –
N	repeat search in opposite direction	+       –
:%s/old/new/g	replace all old with new throughout file	+       –
:%s/old/new/gc	replace all old with new throughout file with confirmations	+       –

Working with multiple files VIM
:e filename	Edit a file in a new buffer	+       –
:bnext (or :bn)	go to next buffer	+       –
:bprev (of :bp)	go to previous buffer	+       –
:bd	delete a buffer (close a file)	+       –
:sp filename	Open a file in a new buffer and split window	+       –
ctrl+ws	Split windows	+       –
ctrl+ww	switch between windows	+       –
ctrl+wq	Quit a window	+       –
ctrl+wv	Split windows vertically	+       –